Neighbor confronted man swinging ax in attack, called 911

The young woman pushed the baby stroller down San Pedro Avenue every day, Teresa Garner remembers.

Garner never knew her neighbor's name and never had any contact with her aside from a wave or a nod, she said, but always recognized the stroller as it leisurely passed her home.

"She came by every single day," said Garner, 52, choking back tears. "Like a clock."

She saw the stroller in front of her house again on Thursday, but the circumstances this time shocked her: The stroller was on its side in the middle of the street, and the woman police later identified as Sandra Castro was on her back, screaming for someone to help her baby.

Garner's neighbor was swinging what she thought at first was a golf club.

"I said, 'Stop that, right now. Stop it. I'm calling the police!' " she recalls yelling.

The man, who police have identified as 33-year-old Harold E. Montague, stopped for a moment to look at her. Garner said he was wielding what appeared to be a medieval battle ax, about 21/2 feet long, a curved blade on one end and short spikes on the other.

She said her neighbor swung the weapon several more times before he stopped and ran across the street, disappearing inside his home at 1609 San Pedro, near Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

What stays with Garner, she said, was the brief moment she and the man locked eyes.

"It was like Satan looking at me," she said. "I went inside and called 911."

Garner's eyewitness account of the incident was among some of the details to emerge Friday in the aftermath of one of the most brutal homicide scenes Las Vegas police Lt. Lew Roberts said he's ever seen.

The 4-month-old baby boy, Damian Avila Castro, was pronounced dead at the scene. The Clark County coroner's office called it a homicide from "multiple chop wounds to the head."

Castro, who police have tentatively identified as the boy's mother, remains in critical condition at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center. If she survives, Roberts said Thursday, "she's going to be disfigured for the rest of her life."

Police said the violence began inside Montague's home shortly before it spilled into the street.

According to Montague's arrest report, he first turned the ax on his physically and mentally disabled sister-in-law, Monica O'Dazier. Roberts said Montague was receiving state money to care for O'Dazier.

Police discovered O'Dazier in a bedroom, the report says. She was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition from more than 20 stab wounds, and her condition remained critical Friday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Officers found Sandra Castro seated next to the baby with severe cuts on her face and head, the arrest report says. It was "obvious the child was dead," the report says.

Witnesses directed the officers to Montague's home, the arrest report says, and he came outside, screaming profanities at the officers and asking, "What do you want?"

Montague then charged and grabbed one of the officer's shotgun and said "he was going to kill him," the report says.

After failing to get the shotgun, Montague tried to run, but another officer stunned him with a Taser, the report says. He was taken into custody and booked into the Clark County Detention Center on several charges, including murder with a deadly weapon, two counts of attempted murder, and attempted murder of a police officer. His first court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.

Montague had three children, two of which were at home during the attack, police said. They were uninjured. A third child was taken out of school. The children were initially brought to Child Protective Services, a spokeswoman there confirmed, but have since been returned to their mother, Erricca Montague, who lives at the house but was at work all day Friday.

Montague told police he had blacked out and couldn't remember the attacks. His wife told TV news stations her husband's family had a history of mental illness and that he was not eating or sleeping before the incident.

But as of Friday evening a motive for the attack remained unknown, and Roberts said there was no indication yet of mental illness. Montague was smoking marijuana before the attack, he said.

"I will say, no normal human being would ever do that to a kid or another human being," Roberts said. "As far as his mental capacity, we don't know. We're looking into it."

Montague doesn't appear to have a criminal record in Las Vegas, but he has several incidents on his record in Texas, where he lived previously. Police say the family recently moved to Las Vegas and Montague once lived in San Antonio.

He had two misdemeanor charges for theft and possession of marijuana from the mid 1990s, and a misdemeanor assault charge in 2005 during which he struck a family member.

The assault charge was dismissed in 2006, records show.

Reached Friday, the owner of the white ranch-style home where police allege Montague's fury began said he never could imagine his tenant was capable of causing such harm.

The owner, who asked his name not be published, said he's had brief encounters with Montague once a month when he dropped by to pick up rent money.

"It's always been quick," he said. "Here's the money. Here's the receipt. That's it. ... He always looked fine to me. He didn't look like he had problems."

Garner said she and her mother, Mae, are still shaken after witnessing the attacks, which occurred close to their home's driveway.

A makeshift memorial has been assembled there by neighbors, near the blood-soaked pavement. Garner said she placed a white rose next to a neighbor's ceramic angel.

She remembers the short period between Montague's disappearance into his house and the arrival of police, when the woman was alone on the street with her dead son.

"I was trying to help her and the baby," she said through tears. "But they were so hacked up. I didn't know what to do for them."

One thing she took some solace from was a phone call from a police officer Friday morning. They told her the injured women were still alive, and the two children at Montague's residence were unharmed and safe.

The police attributed some of that to her scaring Montague away from Castro before her wounds became fatal, she said, as well as her quickness in calling 911.

"They said I may have saved four people's lives," she said. "I just wish I could have done something to stop this."

Staff writers Antonio Planas, Brian Haynes and Kristi Jourdan contributed to this report. Contact reporter Mike Blasky at mblasky@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283.